Just A Ride
by music-is-love10
Summary: Title is from a song by Jem called Just A Ride. Taylor is looking for a roommate at Berkeley, and Ryan ends up moving in with her. Slightly AU. Please Read and Review
1. Don't You Breakdown

**So, this is my first O.C fan fiction. Taylor and Ryan never went out, and were only mutual friends with Seth and Summer. (ryan and taylor had minimal encounters) They both go to Berkeley, and she's looking for a roommate. Guess who it is? Ryan!**

**Feedback is greatly appreciated.**

Ryan looked around the news board and saw the brightest piece of pink paper he'd ever seen before. He grabbed it, reading the very bold header and a smile appeared on his face. _Jackpot_ he thought. It was an ad for an apartment roommate. His eyes scanned over the page, reading the details. He paused after reading the name listed, "Taylor Townsend" he thought "That name sounds familiar." The name rolled off his tongue, and he liked the ring it had. Checking his wrist to look at the time, he turned around to go to class and stuffed the paper in his bag for later.

OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC

Taylor sat on her apartment floor, eating Chinese food. Her transition from Newport to Berkeley had been going smoothly so far, and she hadn't seen anyone from Harbor. Not that they would remember her if they saw her. People hated Taylor Townsend, she was a loner and a freak. Besides Seth and occasionally Summer, she didn't have very many friends. Even back in Newport she only hung out with them occasionally but now that they were back in Rhode Island – Seth at RISD and Summer at Brown – she realized that she was truly alone. People regarded her as a freak, hell, her own _mother_ didn't like her. Finding the quickest out possible, Taylor upped and left to France for her freshman year of college.

Suddenly, the phone rang and knocked Taylor out of her thoughts. She wiped her hands on her jeans, cleared her throat and answered.

"Hello?"

" Hi, is this Taylor Townsend?" Suspicion immediately arose in Taylor since she didn't recognize the voice on the other end.

" Yes. Who is this? Because if you're calling on behalf of my mother tell Veronica to call me herself. Don't bother calling again."

She snapped the phone shut and tossed it back on the floor next to her. Just as she was about to pick up her container of lo mien, her phone rang again.

"What?!" she said harshly.

" Hi. Um, don't hang up. I'm not calling because of your mother, I was calling because I saw that 'Roommate Wanted' ad you posted up on the news board in the quad."

" Oh My God. I am so sorry! I've been getting weird calls from people about my mother and when I didn't recognize your voice on the other end I just assumed.."

" Its fine. Um, My name's Ryan and I was wondering if the roommate offer was still standing?"

" Oh. Um, Yeah. But we have to meet before, and some place public. I mean, obviously I can't just let you move in. You understand right?"

She heard a chuckle on the other end, " Yeah I understand. Is tomorrow at 4pm okay? At the Jamba juice by the architecture building?"

"No, I'm sorry. I have classes until 7pm and then after that I have to go do something down by that Mexican restaurant near the mall. Actually, theres a Jamba Juice over by El Pavo Guapo, could we meet there at like 7 ish? But, if its out of your way or something I'm sure that we could do.."

"That's cool." he cut her off before she could finish "I actually work there, but my shift doesn't get off until 7:30. Is that cool?"

" Yeah, um that works. So, 7:30 at the Jamba Juice? I'll be one sitting on the couches."

" Okay. Great. Bye Taylor."

"Bye."

Taylor clicked off the phone, and threw it on the floor. Well, at least something was working out to her advantage. If all went well, she could finally have a roommate and get settled in. Well, some furniture might be needed to properly settle in. She looked around the bare apartment and sighed. Another night on the floor couldn't hurt.

**SO, I'm not sure if this actually makes any sense just yet ( The Taylor stuff) but it will. Please Read and Review! Honest Feedback is greatly appreciated!! **


	2. Life, it's ever so strange

**Thank you guys so much for the feedback! **

It was 7:25 and Taylor came into the Jamba Juice, and as promised sat on the couches waiting for Ryan to show up. She was nervous, really nervous. After the phone call from Ryan ended, she realized that the voice over the phone was familiar. Unable to pinpoint who it reminded her of, she decided to just carry on with her life. It was probably a coincidence and so far she had only seen a couple people from Harbor, and just as she guessed, they didn't remember her.

She sipped her juice and sighed, looking at the clock and realized that it read 7:32. Where was Ryan? _If this is some kind of sick joke, oh I am going to give whoever came up with this idea a piece of my mind, _she thought to herself.

"Taylor?" she looked up to find Ryan Atwood staring at her.

"_Oh hell no. This has to be a joke." _she thought.

"Ryan?" she said with disbelief. "Ryan _Atwood?"_

_"_Yep." he said, pursing his lips together in a straight line.

" Wow, the last time I saw you was at graduation! Last night on the phone, I knew the voice sounded familiar but I never would have expected this."

" Me either. I knew I'd heard of Taylor Townsend before. So, um, about the apartment, how far is it from here? Can I see it before I say yes?"

Taylor looked at him with disbelief lacing her eyes. "You still want to move in? Are you sure, I mean, I'm pretty sure you were a major contributer to the "I hate Taylor" club."

He sheepishly smiled. " I wasn't the president or anything. I think I was the secretary. And yes, I would still like to move in. It's better actually because well, we semi-know each other."

" Well secretary is _so_ much better." Taylor's voice was laced with playful sarcasm. "Well, if you still want to move in then how about right now to see it?"

He smiled "Someone's in a rush to get me to live with them."

" Ha Ha. I need the rent money."

" What about your mother, I'm sure Veronica Townsend can pay for you."

" And right now, I'm sure that I just need the money." she said with a firm tone.

She got up and walked to the door, when Taylor realized no one was behind her she turned around and said "Are you coming? I thought we were going to go see the apartment."

"Let's go."

* * *

_Taylor Townsend. I'm going to be living with Taylor Townsend. Wait until Seth hears this. _Ryan thought to himself while he waited outside of the UPS building in the mall. Before going to see the apartment, Taylor had to make a stop. He peered in the window and saw her sending a very large packet of paper in a manilla envelope. He turned around, not wanting her to see him spying on her and observed his surroundings. There was a comic book store right across the UPS store and he immediately thought of Seth. _Taylor hung out with Seth and Summer sometimes, how come I never really hung out with her? Marrissa, right._ It had been a year since she died, and even though he missed her a lot and it taken him a while to get his life back together, he couldn't help but feel that the girl had a powerful force over him. _Seth was right, Marissa was the start of my "hero complex"._

"Hey, Ryan. Sorry to make you wait. The guy in there was an incompetent buffoon."

Startled, he turned to Taylor "Yeah, no. It's fine."

"Brooding in the mall? Ryan, Ryan."

He sheepishly smiled " I brood naturally. It's like a reflex."

* * *

Taylor was inwardly cursing herself the whole car ride. _Why did I invite him over? The apartment has NO furniture and I'm pretty sure last night's chinese is still on the floor. Great, and my clothes are all over the place. He's definitely going to want to move in. On top of that I'm Taylor Freaking Townsend, he doesn't like me._

_"_Taylor? Are you okay?" asked Ryan, "because no offense, you're face looks contorted and you're either going to have a Summer type rage blackout or a Taylor sized rant."

She looked at him sideways. He shrugged " I hear things about your rants."

She turned to face Ryan and let out a breath. " Ryan, I have to ask. Are you _sure_ you want to move in? I mean, we never really talked at Harbor and it's just that I'm not exactly the world's most _normal_ person. You don't have to accept the apartment out of guilt or if you think its going to make me feel bad or whatever."

"Taylor, if I was so freaked out at the thought of sharing an apartment with you, I would have told you so. I know that I'm the world's most vocal person, but I would have told you."

" Okay, if you're sure. But, just so you know I am not normally this much of a slob."

They got out of her car and started walking up the steps to her apartment. "Well, here it is. Apartment 3B"

The apartment was the farthest thing from what Ryan had imagined. It was in a nice area, but it didn't look super expensive. It was definitely no Newpsie abode. It looked like it had 2 rooms, a kitchen, and an area for the TV and a couch. But, the apartment was bare. It had no furniture except for two blankets, and a pillow. And clothes, specifically Taylor's bra and "_thongs"_ he thought to himself.

"So," said Taylor turning to him "What do you think?"

" And I know you think I'm a total slob, but I'm really not." She noticed that Ryan didn't answer her question but was instead staring directly behind her. "What?" she said as she turned around.

" Oh My God! Shit. I forgot I put those out there!" she scrambled to her clothing, picking up most of her bra and underwear and putting them under the clothes and shoving everything into a corner. When she was done, she saw Ryan chuckling.

"Hey!" she said smacking the side of his head.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing where she hit him.

" So, what did you think?"

Ryan's eyes widened when he heard her question. "Well, um, I really never imagined, it, those, you know. I didn't think you.."

"OH MY GOD! You idiot. Not about my _bra's and thong's!" _she said, her eyes widened in horror and realization over what he was talking about. "I meant the apartment you buffoon!" she hissed.

"Oh, right. It's nice, and it's not far from campus. I don't have a lot of stuff either."

She snorted " Clearly, I'm overburdened with possessions."

He smiled "Yeah I was wondering about that. Where's all the furniture?"

" I haven't had the chance to buy it." she lied smoothly. " Busy, with school and all. Plus, not all my credits transferred over from Sorbonne, so I have some catching up to do."

" So, are you going to take the room?" she asked.

"Yeah, I don't see why not. When can I move in?" he said.

" Uh, are you free this weekend? We could do it then. Plus, then I have two days to clean this place up."He smirked "Sure."

** xoxox**

** _Life, it's ever so strange and so full of change. _**

**_ You think that you've it worked out then bang,_**

**_ right out of the blue something happens to you,_**

**_ to throw you off course_  
**


	3. Don't be scared, don't hide your eyes

Taylor sat in class, waiting for it to be over. Or, rather _not_ waiting for it to be over. But, when you wish the day wouldn't end, the clock just seems to move faster. She was itching in nervousness about today: it was Ryan moves in day. Her class ended at 11 and Ryan was supposed to show up with his stuff around 12, which gave her an hour to re-check the apartment to make sure that it was perfect. Even though it was pretty obvious at this point that he wasn't going to change his mind about moving in, Taylor still had nagging doubts in her mind that made her go crazy. She still felt as if he could change his mind within ten seconds if everything wasn't perfect. Being comfortable around your roommate was supposed to be natural, you were supposed to feel at home with them or else what was the point of trying to live together when you can't be comfortable in your own home?

Trying to regain focus, Taylor tried to tune back into the lecture only to find that the professor was still talking about the same thing he was when she first zoned out. She checked her watch and realized that it was 10:45, the teacher had been talking about Dickens for the past 45 minutes. He wasn't making any new points either, just going around in circles about his old ones.

"Oh God" she muttered to herself " I really should have skipped today."

Taylor heard the person next to her chuckle and say " I know what you mean. This topic was interesting when he first talked about it, but now he's beating poor Dickens to death."

She looked over, grateful for the distraction from her raging mind and the boring class, and nodded. " I know right? He needs to focus on a new point. No one care's anymore about the 5000 reasons why he felt inspired by his father, thus causing Dorrit to be modeled after him." She sighed dramatically. " I just feel like shouting I GET IT and then leaving."

He laughed quietly at this " Man, I hate freshman seminar courses."

"Same. Except that I'm a sophomore."

His eyes widened at this statement and he looked a little worried. " Please don't tell me you _failed_ this class last year?"

Her jaw dropped and she frantically said "Oh no, no, _no. _I transferred here at the beginning of this year and Berkeley's making me take their freshman courses because "they are a major part of the education here, and my education wouldn't be up to Berkley's standards without it". Stupid seminars." she huffed.

"Oh, good. I was getting a little worried about your intellectual capacity." he said laughingly.

" I am an avid reader thank you!" she said feigning hurt.

"Where did you transfer from?" he asked curiously.

"The Sorbonne, it's in Paris."

The professor's voice boomed out, "Class Dismissed." As Taylor and the guy sitting next to her got up and gathered their belongings, he turned to her and said "Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe you can tell me about France?"

She nodded "Sure. I'll see you tomorrow …." and then smiled nervously " I didn't catch your name. What was it?"

"Trent." he offered with a smile. " And yours?"

"Taylor." she said

He nodded. " I'll see you tomorrow Taylor."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Taylor stood inside the apartment, surveying it and deciding that she would occupy herself with stocking the cabinets with paper plates and cups. She'd gone into her "room" and haphazardly threw the boxes that she still had to unpack into a corner. Taylor gathered up all of her undergarments and placed them in the middle of a box and then covered it with sweaters (there was no need for a replay of last time's incident), Taylor took in the room and decided that it was in satisfactory condition. She'd taken one last took around her bare room, decided that it was satisfactory and walked out. She still didn't buy furniture yet, for some reason a part of her wanted to keep holding onto the fact that maybe this move wasn't permanent and that she could go back to France, away from her controlling manipulative bitch of a mother. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the paper plates and cups when she heard a knock on the door.

She took a look at the clock on her cell phone and it read 11:55. "Damn." She thought. "That hour went by really fast."

Opening the door, Taylor was greeted by a panting Ryan who was juggling two boxes in his hands. She opened the door, moving aside to let him in. He put the boxes down and said breathily "Jesus, carrying boxes up three flights of stairs can really knock the wind out of a person."

She smiled nervously, "You don't want _me_ to help you with that do you? Because, really, I am more of the bookworm type not the macho woman carrying boxes type."

He laughed "You and Seth both. No, that's okay Taylor. I only really have three more boxes, I think I can manage."

"Oh, good." She breathed a sigh of relief. She noticed him surveying the apartment and asked timidly "Is something wrong?"

Ryan turned to face her, "Well… there's no furniture. Even a Chino-kid like me sleeps in a bed on a box spring."

She smiled sheepishly "I've been meaning to, but moving around has been hard and I kind of just wanted to keep the move as non-permanent as possible." Noticing the worried look on Ryan's face, she quickly added "Not, not like that. I don't want to NOT be here, but unpacking everything and going to buy furniture just cements the fact that I've failed."

Taylor looked up at Ryan to find him staring at her intently. "Failed? How?"

She shrugged and sighed, "It's nothing, never mind."

"Taylor, it's clearly something."

Right on cue, her stomach growled. Breathing an internal sigh of relief, she was so glad that her stomach just made that funny sound. How does one tell their roommate that she got married in France, came back to seek her mother's guidance, only to be kicked out by said "mother" and then threatened to be disowned? And, to top it off, Henri-Michel didn't want to sign the divorce papers.

She heard Ryan chuckle at the sound of her stomach and resorted to childlike tactics by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Come on." He said "Let me get these last couple boxes and then we can go eat and talk about that furniture" he added with a wink.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

They were both sitting in a little Mexican restaurant called "El Pavo Guapo", eating and laughing. It registered with the both of them that this was a little weird since they never really talked much and now they were suddenly living together, but oddly both of them felt that something good would come from this.

"So tell me something," Ryan began " Why did you transfer from Paris back to California? Why not Yale or somewhere equally as good?"

He sensed her hesitation before answering, but gave her time to collect her answer. It was something that had been bugging him ever since he left her apartment. In high school she never really fit in, she was like Seth only without the friends. Newport was the place where she was from, but it wasn't necessarily where she _belonged_. She could fit in so easily at a good Ivy-league school, why come home when you don't really have anything to come home to? In a sense he felt sorry for her, it seemed like she never really got affection, except for out of pity and he was determined to change that. She seemed like a good person, a nice person. Sure, she wasn't someone he would normally hang out with but he knew the feeling of isolation well and it was something he wouldn't wish upon anyone. Besides, its not like he was someone the Newpsies would normally hang out with and look how that turned out? There was definitely hope for Taylor.

Tuning back into Taylor, he heard her say "France's excitement wears off on you after a while. It was great while it lasted, but oddly enough I think I like California."

Nodding, he said, "Berkeley's different than Newport. There are more people here, and they're not all the same. It makes it easier to connect with them; over there if you don't fit in to the Summer/Marissa mold, you don't belong."

Taylor was about to say something but was cut off by the shrill ring of her phone. "Sorry." She answered sheepishly. "It'll just take a sec."

She flipped her cell open "Hello?"

" Yes, this is she."

" He's what?!" her face visibly paled and she excused herself from the table, holding her hand over the mouthpiece and mouthing "Sorry, I'll be right back," to a confused Ryan.

There food had just arrived when Taylor came back from her mysterious phone call, still pale.

"Everything okay?" he inwardly cringed. He hadn't meant for that come out sounding like his "hero-complex" tone. Ever since Marissa died, he'd refrained from girls knowing that he'd just land himself in another mess. But this time, this time there was something different. He couldn't help but let the words come out.

She sighed. "Listen, I really hate to ask but, Seth's not here and you're really the only other person I know, so…" she trailed off "Never mind, it's not like you would ever do that, it'd be way to weird."

His interest was piqued now. "Just spit it out Taylor."

She sighed, slumping her shoulders. "Will you be my boyfriend for a day?"

xoxoxoxox

**_It'll take you round and round_**

**_sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down._**

**_ It's just a ride, just a ride. _**

**_ Don't be scared, don't hide your eyes._  
**

* * *

**Reviews give me inspiration. More reviews = faster updates. (anonymous reviews are accepted). **

Sorry about the delay for this chapter though. The next chapter will surely be up much sooner.


	4. no need to run, no need to hide

He gaped, "I'm sorry, what?"

She smiled sheepishly. "I'm trying to get divorced, and I just found out that Henri Michel," she looked up to find him staring confusedly, "Oh, that's my French husband."

He nodded and there was an alarmed expression on his face.

"He's coming to Newport," she continued, "and I know he's going to try and talk me out of it, and I could really use you there."

"Taylor, I – "

"Please? Listen, you're the only person I can turn to right now. Seth and Summer aren't here, my mom kicked me out. I wouldn't ask if I had another choice."

Ryan sat there, dumbfounded. Internally, he really did want to help Taylor. She looked like she could use it, and it was just a small favor. But his defenses kicked in, and the wall he'd put up got thicker. Sandy had told him that it was something that was a part of him, and that his ability to help others was what made him Ryan. But what Seth had said about the "complex" just kept coming back to haunt him. It would probably be for the best if he just turned her down.

"No."

She sighed, "I'm scared to be alone with him Ryan. The man is a sexual god, you don't question what he says, you just do it."

He shook his head, "Taylor, -"

She cut him off again, "Ryan, I really need this favor. If I go there alone, I'm going to end up in France by next week."

"I just really," he held up his hand when he saw that Taylor was about to cut him off, "think that it'd be the best decision if I didn't. I'm sorry."

"Oh, its fine Ryan," he looked up and gave her a quizzical look, "I just hope you have fun paying the rent all by yourself."

He was about to open his mouth, when her phone rang again and she stomped off, leaving Ryan sitting in the restaurant all by himself. Damn, he thought, that girl was really something different.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What the hell was she going to do now? If he said no to pretending to be her boyfriend, there was no way in hell that he'd agree to be part of a love affair with her. She really needed to get out of this marriage, and the only way that would happen was if she fooled Ryan into signing the contract saying that he'd been sleeping with her.

* * *

**This chapter blows, and is TOTALLY a filler. I just needed to get something up for this fic because I haven't updated in about a month and a half. I have the next chapter started, and it should be much longer than this. **


	5. URGENT AUTHORS NOTE

Dear Readers,

**T****his is NOT an update, but an URGENT author's note.**

I haven't been on FF for a while now, and this trend will probably continue for quite sometime, if not forever. I have a lot of great recommendations in my favorites, and there just isn't a way to delete an FF account, so I'm leaving everything up.

That being said, don't delete me just yet! Another reason I didn't delete was because I might just get an update for a story, but if it were gone, I couldn't update. **I MIGHT ACTUALLY UPDATE, YOU NEVER KNOW! ;)**

The reason for this inactivation is just that I've had MAD writers block for quite some time now, but also because of some personal reasons. I do love all of my readers and reviewers, and I'd like to thank you all for reading, reviewing and giving me encouragement.

FanFiction really is a great place, and I've met some GREAT people. Please, please, **PLEASE check out my favorites and my profile for some other AWESOME reads. You may actually like some of them! You never know!**

Anyways, I posted this authors note to 'alert' all of my readers to this change. But, also, (and I got this from a friend), it would be kind of cool to let one of the readers finish writing this for me. You never know. Please PM me if you are at all interested.

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up now.

**THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS/REVIEWERS. YOU TRULY DID BRIGHTEN MY DAY WITH A SMILE EACH TIME I GOT A REVIEW!**

**Anyways, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to PM me for ANYTHING at all :)  
**

XOXOX,Music Is Love 10

**P.S. Check out STDAY, xoMUSICLOVERxo and YTSGRL on FF for some other great stories.**

**SMC27 is the BOMB for LP stories. **


End file.
